Chapter 5 - The Name on the Birth Record
The old Moretti chapel smelled of dust and cold stone.
Dominic entered with Anthony and two detectives.
Elena remained outside in the car.
That had taken an argument.
A long one.
Dominic had won only because Lily had called from Anthony’s house asking when her mother was coming back.
“Ten minutes,” Elena had warned.
“You don’t control police operations.”
“I control how long I sit in your car.”
“Fair.”
Walter Keane sat in the second pew.
Alone.
Eighty-one years old.
Thin.
Gray suit.
Oxygen tube beneath his nose.
A leather ledger rested across his knees.
Dominic stopped in the aisle.
“Walter?”
The old man looked up.
“You have your father’s eyes.”
Dominic did not know what to do with that.
“Where is Salvatore?”
“Gone.”
“He brought you here?”
Walter nodded.
“He believed I would give him the ledger.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Walter smiled faintly.
“I’m old. Not stupid.”
Anthony checked the side rooms.
Clear.
Dominic sat one pew behind Walter.
“What did you mean about Lily’s birth record?”
Walter looked toward the altar.
“Your uncle was afraid of blood.”
Dominic frowned.
“Meaning?”
“Not literal blood. Inheritance.”
Understanding came slowly.
“If Lily was publicly recognized as my daughter…”
“She would become part of the Moretti family trust.”
Dominic knew the family trust contained voting rights across holding companies.
He had never thought about how those rights passed to children.
He had no children.
Or he had believed he had none.
“What did Salvatore change?”
Walter opened the ledger.
“Nothing at first.”
He pointed to a payment.
Private Records Consulting.
Twenty-five thousand dollars.
Then another.
Hospital Administration Services.
Forty thousand.
“What are these?”
“Payments made the month Lily was born.”
Elena entered behind them.
Dominic turned.
“I told you to stay outside.”
“You also said ten minutes.”
“It’s been six.”
“It felt longer.”
Walter watched them.
Then smiled sadly.
“Elena.”
She froze.
“You know me?”
“I knew of you.”
“From who?”
“Margaret.”
Elena moved closer.
“You knew Dominic’s mother?”
“Forty years.”
Walter looked at Dominic.
“I kept books for your father. Your mother kept consciences for both of us.”
Dominic nodded toward the ledger.
“What did Salvatore do?”
Walter removed a folded photocopy.
“Original birth registration.”
Elena stared at it.
“How did you get that?”
“Margaret.”
The father section was blank.
Elena had left it blank.
She explained quietly.
“I believed you didn’t want her.”
Dominic nodded.
No anger.
Not anymore.
Walter produced a second document.
“Amended filing request.”
Dominic read.
The request ordered any future paternity claim involving Dominic Moretti to be routed through a private family law office before processing.
Signed by Salvatore.
“He tried to block me from being added later.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Voting control.”
Walter closed the ledger.
“At the time, Dominic owned forty-eight percent of voting shares. Salvatore controlled nineteen. Margaret controlled twelve.”
Dominic remembered.
“After my mother died, her shares transferred to the family trust.”
Walter nodded.
“If Dominic had a legally recognized child, part of those shares would eventually shift into a descendant trust outside Salvatore’s influence.”
Elena sat.
“So he kept Lily hidden for money?”
“Control,” Walter corrected. “Money was only how he measured it.”
Dominic felt sick.
His daughter had been treated like a line in a corporate calculation before she was even born.
“Why fire Elena now?”
Walter looked at her.
“Because she found the same accounts he used seven years ago.”
“Employee relief.”
“Yes.”
“He was still stealing.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Walter looked at Dominic.
“More than Claire found.”
“How much?”
“Forty-three million.”
Anthony swore under his breath.
Walter continued.
“Some went to shell companies. Some financed private operations. Some paid people to keep quiet.”
“About Elena?”
“Among other things.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“What other things?”
Walter hesitated.
“The answer may destroy the company.”
Dominic leaned forward.
“Tell me.”
“Your uncle has been preparing to remove you.”
Dominic almost smiled.
“He’s been preparing to do that since I was born.”
“Not like this.”
Walter opened the ledger to the final pages.
Payments to law firms.
Private investigators.
Board consultants.
Then one entry.
Federal Compliance Advisory.
Dominic frowned.
“What is that?”
“A cooperating attorney.”
“For?”
“To build a case making the stolen transfers look like yours.”
Silence.
Elena looked at Dominic.
Salvatore had not merely forged his signature.
He had spent years building paperwork that could make Dominic appear responsible for the entire theft.
Walter looked at him.
“If the authorities receive the packet Salvatore prepared, you could be indicted.”
Anthony stepped forward.
“Where’s the packet?”
Walter shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“Who does?”
“Evelyn.”
Salvatore’s assistant.
The woman currently lying in the hospital under Claire Whitman’s name.
Dominic stood.
“We go now.”
At the hospital, Evelyn Marlow had finally regained consciousness.
She refused to speak until Dominic entered alone.
Elena waited outside.
Evelyn looked older than Dominic remembered.
Sixty-three.
Usually immaculate.
Now bruised.
Hair tangled.
She looked at him.
“You got the letters?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For which part?”
Her eyes filled.
“All of it.”
Dominic pulled a chair closer.
“Did Salvatore order you to intercept them?”
“The first few.”
“And the rest?”
“I kept doing what I was told.”
“Why?”
“I was afraid.”
Dominic did not comfort her.
But he did not condemn her either.
“Why send them now?”
“Because Elena started asking questions.”
“That gave you courage?”
“No.”
Evelyn looked toward the window.
“Lily did.”
Dominic frowned.
“I saw her once.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
Dominic went still.
“Your mother brought me to Elena’s apartment.”
Evelyn’s voice broke.
“She made me look at that baby and asked if protecting Salvatore was worth what we had done.”
Dominic looked down.
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
“And now?”
“Now I know the answer.”
She reached beneath her hospital blanket.
Pulled out a small key.
“Safe-deposit box.”
“Where?”
“First Manhattan Private Bank.”
“What’s inside?”
“Salvatore’s packet.”
“The one meant to frame me?”
“Yes.”
“Why do you have it?”
“Because I stole it.”
Dominic took the key.
“Does Salvatore know?”
“Yes.”
“That’s why you were hurt?”
She nodded.
“The accident wasn’t an accident.”
Dominic stood.
Evelyn grabbed his wrist.
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“He knows Elena still has something.”
“What?”
“A letter from your mother.”
Dominic frowned.
“Elena showed me Margaret’s archive letter.”
“Not that one.”
“Then what?”
Evelyn’s grip tightened.
“The letter Margaret gave Elena personally.”
Dominic turned toward the door.
Elena sat outside with Anthony.
Dominic stepped into the hall.
“Did my mother give you another letter?”
Elena looked up.
Her face told him the answer.
“Yes.”
“When?”
“The last time I saw her.”
“Where is it?”
“At home.”
“What does it say?”
“I never opened it.”
Dominic stared at her.
“Why?”
“She told me to open it only if Lily was ever threatened because of the Moretti name.”
Anthony’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed instantly.
“What?”
He turned toward Dominic.
“Someone just entered Elena’s apartment.”
Elena stood.
“Lily isn’t there.”
“No.”
“What are they looking for?”
Dominic already knew.
Margaret’s letter.
Anthony checked another message.
Then looked at Elena.
“The building camera caught the person going inside.”
“Who?”
Anthony turned the screen.
Elena stopped breathing.
The man entering her apartment was not Salvatore.
May you like
It was Dominic’s longtime attorney.
The one man Dominic had trusted with every legal secret he had.
